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I’m too young to be a grandparent

Those of you who follow life at Port Brewing know that we have two cats that patrol our brewery as part of our commitment to Bio-Dynamic Pest Control. Amarillo and his sister Cascade have been with us for almost 10 months now. In that time, they have assimilated themselves very well to brewery living. On most weekends, Amarillo will assume his post and hunker down at the end of the bar. In many ways, he’s like Norm from Cheers excepting of course that the cat is neither witty nor does he drink. Yet, he anchors that corner of the bar quite well.

Cascade with her five kittens

His sister Cascade has always been a bit more shy when the brewery is open and for the most part prefers to hide outside from the masses. Either way, they have been an integral part of our brewery since they moved in. They literally have put the pest control guy out of business. I for one am happy about their performance.

About 4 months ago, we noticed that Amarillo was showing Cassie some serious “Brotherly Love” and became concerned about his affections. As such, we dispatched him to the veterinarian where he was ceremoniously “nutted.” Sorry bro. Sometimes these things just have to happen. The operation was a success. Amarillo recovered well and has since gotten incredibly lazy. But then again, you can’t blame him…

Fast forward to about a month after his surgery when Cascade starts looking less gaunt than her brother and is on the prowl more than she ever used to be. I blamed lethargy and lack of nutter butters in Amarillo. Just sort of figured she was “picking up the slack” for her brother. Turns out, I was wrong. Somewhere on a starry night Cassie had gone out and found love in all the wrong places. She began putting on weight and the countdown began.

Last week before I left for Philly Beer Week, we watched as Cascade began prepping the brewery for the imminent arrival of the new additions to Port Brewing (side note, we have been adding tanks and equipment. I wonder if extra kittens running around qualify as a tax write off as well?) On Wednesday, I got a text from Monkey Mike congratulating me on being a Grandpa.

Seems that while I was in Philadelphia, our little “Cassie” (Cascade) gave birth to five new Port Brewing Kittens. And in an instant, my world changed. I became a Grandparent overnight. I’m 35 and way too young to be a grandparent. That’s what I texted Mike. Too late he said. You’re stuck with it. Then he proceeded to tell me that we have 3 new black kittens and two silver ones.

At this point in time, none of them have names. Tiernan (Terri and Sage’s daughter has first dibs on the kitties). She wants one of the silver ones. We’re going to keep the other silver one for the brewery. Sydney will be naming this one. That leaves three black kittens. Gina and Skye have decided they want one. This leaves us with two more kittens to find homes for.

Terri has decided that we’re going to have a raffle for the last two kittens. The details will be forthcoming. The response has been overwhelming. I know that we’ll have zero issues finding these two little bundles of joy a new home. It’ll be weird having a 3rd cat roaming the brewery. But at the same time, it just didn’t seem right taking all 5 kittens out of the mix.

So, in the coming weeks, when you visit the brewery, please be mindful that we now have 7 felines living at the brewery. I’m certain the bio-dynamic pest control division has never been stronger. At least, we have the rodents shaking in their boots. And for that, I am thankful for a bunch of new kittens around the brewery.